1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to an optical mount and, more particularly, to an optical mount used with a supporting optical table that may be adjusted to position optical elements at selected angles relative to the table.
2. Background Art
Optical tables, benches, breadboards, rails, workstations and the like (herein all collectively referred to simply as tables or supporting structures) are often used for laser and other optical experiments and engineering prototypes. For example, a typical optical table has a flat upper surface with a series of ¼″-20 (M6) threaded holes arranged in a rectangular array or grid spaced 1″ or 2″ (25 mm or 50 mm) apart. To the table surface, various components, devices and mounts are selectively arranged and fixed to construct an optical system. They are attached to the table as by bolts, screws and the like, until they are removed. The flat upper surface of the table generally defines the position of a reference plane to which the optical elements are aligned.
Construction of such optical systems requires mechanisms for positioning, retaining and aligning optical elements, such as mirrors, beam splitters, filters apertures, and lenses. Integrated mounting hardware optimized for specific applications requires engineering design, assembly and testing cycles that may be prohibitively expensive and time consuming for all but the highest value applications. Off-the-shelf general purpose mounts are readily available, but they are generally not stable and repeatable in an environment of thermal cycling and vibration. Their use frequently results in overly large, cumbersome systems that are unsuited for anything but short-term laboratory feasibility studies in benign environments. In industrial applications, it is also very desirable to seal optical systems against airborne dust, debris and chemical contamination. Most general purpose mounts are not amenable to such protection.